If I Can Feel The Screws After A Genioplasty Is That A Bad Thing?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a question about genioplasty, I hope you can help me. Is it normal to feel the screws after a genioplasty? (I refer to touch the chin with the fingers) If you can feel the screws is it a bad thing? Can screws create volume on my chin? In this second genioplasty the chin was vertically. (5mm) This is my 7th day after surgery
but I’m worried because just touching my chin, I can feel the screws. Does that mean my surgeon did a bad job? Any solution for this? In the first genioplasty never had this experience but that surgery was just a horizontal cut.

A: The only circumstances in which screws after a genioplasty can be felt is if there were placed in a lag screw fashion where the screwheads would be on the edge of the advanced chin bone in a horizontal cutr or if the chinb was vertically lengthened and the inferior location of the plate and screws may be at the bottom edge of the bone. The fact that you feel them is harmless. They can not create more chin volume per se. It just means the location of the plates and screws may be palpable, that is not harmful or dangerous. After it heals (one year) you can have them removed if it continues to be a concern for you.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana